Oklahoma basketball: It’s not how you start, but how you finish
By Chip Rouse
A week ago at this time, the light at the end of the tunnel representing an at-large bit to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship was appearing dimmer and dimmer for the Oklahoma basketball team.
With the calendar turning to March, crunch time has officially arrived in college basketball as teams vie for tournament seedings and the opportunity to play on as part of the madness known as the NCAA Tournament. How you finish the season matters more important to the tournament selection committee than how you start out.
The Sooners began the season projected to finish eighth out of 10 teams in the Big 12 standings, not exactly a vote of confidence from the conference coaches concerning OU’s opportunities to see postseason action.
Oklahoma began its Big 12 schedule after going 9-3 in November and December — good but not great — during the nonconference portion of its season. Seven of those nonconference opponents are currently ranked in the top 100 of the NCAA Division I NET rankings and eight in the top 150.
The Sooners opened up conference play with back-to-back wins at home over Kansas State and on the road at Texas, then went into a bit of a swoon, losing four of their next six games to close out January with a 3-4 record against Big 12 opponents.
The month of February marked the most difficult stretch in Oklahoma’s 2019-20 schedule. With no wins over ranked opponents heading into February, it was patently clear that how the Sooners performed in that do-or-die month would determine where, and if, Oklahoma would be playing beyond the Big 12 Tournament.
The February schedule included nine games: two each against 2019 national championship runner-up Texas Tech and top-25-ranked West Virginia and single games with then No. 1 Baylor and at No. 2 Kansas. No team in the country faced a more difficult February schedule than Oklahoma.
With a huge win at 20th-ranked West Virginia on Saturday, the Sooners finished their difficult February gauntlet winning five of the nine games, including Quadrant 1 victories over three ranked teams. Oklahoma has not had a winning record in the month of February since 2014-15.
That still may not be enough to consider Oklahoma a “lock” to make the NCAA Tournament, but the Crimson and Cream are clearly better off in that regard than they were a month ago. With back-to-back wins over top-25 teams, the Sooners are trending in the right direction. OU is currently No. 42 in the NET rankings. That is up from No. 58 just a couple of weeks ago.
The Sooners finish out the regular season at home against Texas on Tuesday and at TCU on Saturday. Wins in both of those games would give them four consecutive wins and lock in a No. 4 seed and first-round bye in the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship. It also would likely assure Oklahoma at least a 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament, regardless of what happens in the conference tournament.
Entering the month of March, the Sooners are more in control of their postseason plans than they’ve been at any point in the season. Win and they’re in. It’s as simple as that.